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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24534031">antonio higgins and the wonders of the passage of time</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, Non-Binary Albert DaSilva, Pining, albert's birthday!!, also a lot of race, dont ask, girl blink, girl crutchie, girl jojo, its two am i literally dont know anymore, jacks weird hes a weirdo, jojo and kath are cousins??, non-binary specs, of course, race jack smalls crutchie and romeo are siblings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 07:02:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,111</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24534031</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>race always learns new things on albert's birthday.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Albert DaSilva/Racetrack Higgins</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>antonio higgins and the wonders of the passage of time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>i... have no idea.</p><p>but i love them</p><p>(this is Way longer than i expected)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Race was ten, he decided that his house smelled like cookies and autumn and home after a long day of school.</p><p>It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment statement, but more of the results of a long poll. His lifelong friends always seemed to be drawn to his house for some reason—more so than to anyone else’s within their group—and so Race, being Race, took it upon himself to find out the true reason why.</p><p>For months, Race wrote down in a little notebook that fit in his back pocket what everyone else said about it. His own siblings hadn’t made very interesting additions—Jack was very, well, Jack about it (he was freshly fifteen and seemed to really like using metaphors like <em>it smells like the ocean at night</em>, whatever the hell that meant). Smalls and Romeo didn’t have any meaningful answers, because home always smelled the same to them. Charlie was nine and didn’t understand the question.</p><p>So Race took the question to the world. And the world, when he was a fifth grader, meant his friends.</p><p>While he waited for Albert and Blink to be done with their English test, he sat across the hall from Jojo and Specs and listened to their answers. Specs, ever the wise one, said that Race’s home didn’t smell like anything special, but the scent reminded them of all the times they’d been there after long days of class, and so they associated it with having fun after studying for hours.</p><p>Jojo was much simpler—Race’s house smelled like Race, and Race always smelled like Medda’s cookies.</p><p>Albert hadn’t been in the best of places after failing their test to give any sort of answer, so Race let them off the hook and attacked Blink instead, but not without throwing an arm around his best friend and stealing glances every now and again to make sure they were okay.</p><p>There was a science to being Albert’s friend, and Race liked to think he was a genius.</p><p>Blink was mysteriously not annoyed by the question—although she threatened to kick Race if he didn’t just give her a minute to think—, and she considered all the other answers for a moment before solemnly saying that the Larkin household smelled like leaves.</p><p>Race collected his answers and made the decision that his house was special.</p><p>Whenever there was a new addition to the group, like whenever Jack brought a date home or whenever Romeo and Smalls had soccer practice and the team came over to have lunch on Medda’s courtesy, Race liked to ask again and again.</p><p>Nothing seemed to top their friend’s answers for a long time, and Race thought that maybe he simply happened to be friends with some very wise people.</p><p>The group didn’t change much through the years—which was a fancy way of saying that it didn’t change at all. It wasn’t that they were losers, or that they were exclusive in any way, but the five seemed to just work together. So, even if things seemed to be on the edge of changing by the time ninth grade rolled over (because Blink just <em>couldn’t</em> take her eyes off the new transfer student, and Specs seemed to steal more and more glances of Romeo whenever they were over at Race’s, and Jojo had new friends at the student body and Race could feel something new coming his way, too), they managed to stay the same.</p><p>Sometimes, it felt like some sort of silent agreement. A promise they made to each other and themselves that they wouldn’t change until they were all ready.</p><p>In order of ages, Specs was the oldest and the first to turn fifteen. Then came Blink, then Albert, then Race, then Jojo. Which meant that up until February, more than half of the group was still fourteen.</p><p>Albert’s birthday always made Race realize things. Like the passage of time. Albert’s birthday was like midnight on New Years Eve.</p><p>The first of Albert’s birthdays that Race got to be a part of was their eighth. Everyone remembered it well, because it was the one time Albert got to throw a birthday party before their sister ran away from home, and <em>man</em>, did Eilish know how to throw a party. There were balloons everywhere and the theme of the party was spaceships—not Star Wars or Star Trek or E.T., just spaceships—, and for the years to come Race kept it safe in a space of his mind reserved exclusively for things that just screamed important.</p><p>A lot of those things were about Albert. But that didn’t necessarily have to mean anything.</p><p>Back then, Race didn’t have many friends. His best friends were his siblings, actually, which was nothing to be ashamed of because his family was pretty damn awesome. But Race wasn’t the social butterfly he took pride in being in his later years, and actually, it was the one and only Albert who introduced him to the first addition to their group.</p><p>Hard as he tried, Race would never forget how that first conversation with eight-year-old Albert and eight-year-old Blink went. It was tattooed on his mind for the worst reasons.</p><p>It was cold, even for February, and Albert had been wearing nothing but a t-shirt with <em>Green Day</em> imprinted all over it. So, of course, certain kid saw the opening and took it. That had been only the beginning of years of Albert and Blink bonding over music, and really, it was one of the most consistent things in their group. They both cared about it and loved it and knew so much that sometimes everyone else just went silent and let them both ramble on for long hours because it was just fascinating.</p><p>Now, Race wasn’t the smoothest kid on Earth. He also wasn’t the most cultured one. Blink enjoyed emptying drinks on his head when he was talking wrongfully about her favorite bands—tradition that started, as things go, on Albert’s eighth birthday party.</p><p>Albert never got to throw another party after Eilish ran away, mostly because it didn’t feel right when she wasn’t there to throw them but also because she was simply the one that cared the most. Race had heard them talk for forever about how it was probably better off, how parties were pretentious and dumb and exhausting and they didn’t have that many friends anyway, but he knew it upset them every year.</p><p>Not because he didn’t try, but Race couldn’t take it upon his young self to fix the problems inside the DaSilva family. So, he settled with making Albert as happy as possible.</p><p>It was tricky and required a lot of paying attention, but then again, Race was a genius at being Albert’s person.</p><p>There was something about turning fifteen that made that year seem different from every other. Of course, there was always the chance that turning sixteen would feel weird as well, and so would turning seventeen, and so on. But turning fifteen seemed different—bigger. And while it was scary and unknown, it was also thrilling. It only made this party more important to plan well.</p><p>The recipe for a make-Albert-happy get-together was nothing if not just mixing simple elements: Albert liked movies, Albert liked Medda’s food, Albert liked pranks, Albert liked their friends, and Albert really, really liked to be around Race.</p><p>If some of the aforementioned elements remained a secret for the organizer of the party, it was only because the organizer chose to ignore them, because the organizer’s chest felt weird and off when he thought about it. It didn’t necessarily mean that he was a coward. It definitely didn’t mean that he liked living in oblivion because change was simply too scary for a dynamic so sacred.</p><p>On the morning of the party, Race woke up buzzing with excitement and looked down at his palms, where a poorly handwritten list read the following:</p><p>
  <em>AL<strike>BIE</strike>’S BIRTHDAY PARTY!</em>
</p><p>
  <em>CAKE FROM MOM AND SMALLS !!<br/>
balloons ? ask romeo<br/>
music —&gt; blink<br/>
pranks games —&gt; crutchie<br/>
videogames (me!!!)<br/>
movies —&gt; specs<br/>
DONT RUIN THE SURPRISE —&gt; JOJO<br/>
GET THE GIFT —&gt; JACK<br/>
DONT BE LAME —&gt; ALSO JACK</em>
</p><p>Satisfied with the plan he had finished mastering the night before at a very feverish two in the morning, Race jumped off the bed and ran off to draw a big and shiny cross over February 2nd on the calendar against his door. He yawned, smiled, and then ran out of his bedroom and rushed downstairs.</p><p>Still in his pajamas, the cool that came through the room closest to the bathroom in the first floor made Race freeze still and turn around slowly. He groaned.</p><p>“Jack,” he whined, knocking on the half-open door and peeking through. The room was at a dangerously low temperature and Race spotted his oldest brother smoking out his window. He frowned and walked in, reaching to take the package of cigarettes from Jack’s pocket. “What’re you doing with that? Mom says no smoking inside the house.”</p><p>“Does it look like I’m inside?” Jack said. Race rolled his eyes.</p><p>“It looks like the freakin’ North Pole in here, that’s what.”</p><p>Race didn’t like to think about growing up—not if it meant getting grumpy and miserable like Jack did when he turned eighteen.</p><p>“Al’s birthday, huh?” Jack asked, looking down at the scribbles on Race’s hands. He blushed and hid them on the pockets of his sweatpants. “Ma’s workin’ on that cake.”</p><p>“Cool,” he said. It really was cold for a kid just standing in his pajamas, but Race liked to be around Jack. Even when he pretended to be annoyed by him and vice versa. He had always had a special thing with his older brother. “Also, uh—”</p><p>Upon remembering his task, Jack perked up and climbed into his room—not without bringing some snow in with him, which made Race shiver to his toes—to quickly shuffle through a pile of folders and paper bags until he took out the right one. In bright red it read “<em>For Al</em>” and it had a little painting of a rocketship in the back, and Race couldn’t help but squeal when he saw it.</p><p>He had heard many times in his life that the ease he had to find things to feel happy about was a problem, but it actually felt really good.</p><p>“You got it,” he exhaled and threw his arms around Jack. Jack took a step back before hugging back completely and running a frozen hand through Race’s curls.</p><p>“Of course, <em>tonto</em>. Anything for my best brother,” he said.</p><p>“Me? Really?”</p><p>“No, I meant Albert,” Jack smiled before dodging Race’s fist and returning to his spot by the window.</p><p>After adjusting to the change in temperatures once he stepped back into the hallway, Race could very easily find his mom and sister by just following the smells. It made him smile, how Jojo seemed to be right every time.</p><p>Sitting on one end of the long kitchen table was Romeo, with his feet dangling off the chair and his head bopping to Taylor Swift as it came out through the speakers of his laptop and filled the room. On the other side Race found Smalls bent in two with half of her body inside the oven and his mom flouring a cake pan. Everyone was dancing to some extent, and it made his grin grow even wider.</p><p>He opted for getting Romeo’s attention first, since he was the least busy, and because Race was fourteen and gross and only human, the best idea he came up with was standing mere inches away from his brother’s face until he turned around. When he didn’t, he followed plan B.</p><p>“Ew, what the—” Romeo jerked away. “Mom, Race licked my face!”</p><p>“Ha,” said Smalls from inside the oven.</p><p>Medda looked up, only now noticing the presence of her middle child, and shook her head. “Again, Tony?”</p><p>Race shrugged. He came up to his mom and gave her a good morning kiss before turning around and jumping to sit on the counter, legs loose and kicking underneath him. He faced Romeo, who stuck his tongue out in response.</p><p>It’s not that Romeo was really above the face-licking technique, because he wasn’t. It was that Race made him look away at a crucial moment and he lost a very important game of Hunger Games on Minecraft. He had a reputation, after all.</p><p>“Rome,” Race called.</p><p>“Race,” his brother replied, now looking at the screen once again.</p><p>“I need balloons.”</p><p>“Oh, yeah, I have some in my backpack,” he said.</p><p>Race pumped his fist, then stopped and frowned. “Why do you have balloons in your backpack?”</p><p>Smalls extracted herself from the oven, shook herself half-clean, and walked towards them. She was eleven years old and four-feet-five, and Race knew she had taken the title of <em>Coolest Sibling</em> from him—if it ever was his—many moons ago. She was possibly the most awesome person Race knew, and she was a sixth grader.</p><p>She crossed her arms over her chest with a smile. “We were remaking a vine.”</p><p>“Balloons on the car?”</p><p>“Yup,” she made a popping noise on the p and then went on with her baking routine, licking the remains of chocolate cake mix off her chin and nose.</p><p>Romeo looked at her and nodded. “Yeah. So, balloons?”</p><p>If Race had nodded with any more enthusiasm, his head would’ve fallen off.</p><p>“Red, right?”</p><p>“You people know Albert so well.”</p><p>His brother shrugged. “I know you. <em>You</em> know Albert.”</p><p>For a second, Race let those words fly above him. He hummed and turned to his mom, who was untying her apron and already turning to answer his questions.</p><p>He crossed the kitchen in two steps and was stopped by the doorbell ringing. In a sudden strike of panic he glanced at the clock on the wall, but it read <em>10:57 AM</em> and not a minute later, so he relaxed. </p><p>As Charlie yelled from the living room that she’d get the door, Medda got ahead of him and started answering his questions before he even asked them.</p><p>“The cake is chocolate, like you said. We got Rocklets, and not Skittles, like you said. We also didn’t get a candle because <em>Al doesn’t like those</em>,” she said. Race nodded, his eyes moving fast as he checked off items on a list in his head, and he went to open his mouth but was interrupted once again. “I already handled the snacks, Jojo is bringing them on her way over.”</p><p>“Won’t that ruin the surprise?”</p><p>“Honey, it’s Josephine,” his mom stated with a knowing, unconcerned smile. “That kid is always eating. I don’t think Al’s gonna tell the difference.”</p><p>After a moment of thinking, Race decided she was probably right.</p><p>Charlie was insanely good at making conversation for a thirteen-year-old. She could find a subject in common with the least conversational being in the world—a giraffe, probably. Alternatively, Blink.</p><p>They were both chatting when a breathless Race ran towards them.</p><p>Blink was always early, that was one of the things that made her Blink. She was always early, and she was always alone when Race went to open the door—not because her parents didn’t drive her, but because she made them stop half a block before and let her walk alone the last fifty meters to Race’s doorstep. Race only knew about this because he caught her through the window, waving her family goodbye as they drove off behind her.</p><p>When asked why, Blink shrugged. Race had been expecting something bad—like maybe her family doesn’t like Race, or they don’t like <em>her</em>, or something of that level. But Blink had said, with all the normalcy in the world, that it was because “she wanted to train her independency”.</p><p>Race didn’t understand many things about Blink. That’s why he loved her so much.</p><p>By the time noon rolled around, Blink had already displayed her collection of CDs over Race’s bed and picked out the best selection possible.</p><p>Specs didn’t come by until well after two in the afternoon, because that’s what “early” usually meant for a party that started at five. They carried two bags full of DVDs in their proper cases and if Blink didn’t laugh at the absolute exhilaration in Race’s face when he saw them, she missed by little.</p><p>The weirdest thing about party-planning was that, when the party was a surprise, they couldn’t really do it all together. It would be a pretty lame surprise party if Albert was there during the planning, and Jojo was <em>terrible</em> at keeping secrets, so almost half of the group was gone for most of that day. It made Race feel uneasy, how different things felt when they didn’t move as a group.</p><p>Lucky for him, he didn’t get to sit on that wonder for much longer, because Jack reappeared with his phone tilted forward and called for Race’s attention.</p><p>“Jojo’s cousin just texted me,” he said, ignoring how the three kids that were supposedly under his watch while Medda did some last-minute shopping scrambled to their feet and made grabbing motions to read the text themselves. “They’re on their way now.”</p><p>Trying not to focus on precisely <em>why</em> his stomach wrenched in nerves at that sentence, Race stood up fast as if preparing for battle.</p><p>In the seventeen minutes it took Jojo and Albert to arrive—and they knew so before they even rang the doorbell, because be it for the sake of the surprise or because that was just Jojo, her loud jokes could be heard as soon as they turned around the corner—Race made Blink and Specs clean their traces and hide in his room like he had planned.</p><p>The last thing he heard before making the door fly open was, “<em>Wait, why are we at Tonio’s house?</em>”</p><p>Albert was really pretty. That’s the first thing Race learned on their fifteenth birthday.</p><p>“Happy birthday!” He exclaimed as soon as Albert was out of the vehicle. He didn’t even give them time to assimilate reality before he tackled them in a hug and made them land on their back over a pile of snow. Albert laughed.</p><p>“Gee, thanks,” they said. Race couldn’t put his finger on why their face was suddenly red. They stood up and shook the snow out of their coat before letting Race pull them in for a second, less violent hug. “I’m not turning shorter because you press the shit outta me, y’know.”</p><p>Race broke off their hug and stuck his tongue out. He turned to quickly hug Jojo and her cousin Katherine before showing them all the way inside.</p><p>The plan was as followed: Jojo would drive Albert, then Race would tell them the plan was <em>just to watch some movie or something</em>, then he’d lead them to his room as usual and there would be waiting Blink, Specs, Charlie, and the cake.</p><p>It was his own personal part of the plan to pull Albert away quickly and hand them a paper bag as Jojo and Katherine made conversation with Medda in the kitchen.</p><p>He grabbed Albert by the wrist and walked them to the end of the hallway, right by the door that gave way to his mom’s room, because it was quieter and darker and it felt like the right place for something he’d like to remember later.</p><p>When he considered it far enough to stop, he turned to his best friend and extended his arm, gently shoving the bag into Albert’s chest. In exchange, the kid frowned.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Birthday.”</p><p>“You’re not giving me a bomb, are you?”</p><p>“Yeah, it’s a bomb. You got me.”</p><p>Albert grinned before taking the bag into their hands and examining it. They held it carefully and bit their lip to hold back a large smile when they saw Jack’s handwriting and painting. After a moment, they opened it.</p><p>“Race.”</p><p>He smiled. “Yeah.”</p><p>“Antonio.”</p><p>“Yes, Albert.”</p><p>“Holy—” Albert covered their mouth with their eyes wide. They pulled a wrapped comic book from inside the back and looked up at Race, then at the gift once again, then at Race.</p><p>In the part of Race’s mind that always thought about Albert was the knowledge that Albert lit up completely in a way that he found nothing but pure and lovely when they found a new comic book. He was smart enough to know that <em>technically</em>, it wasn’t possible for a human being to “light up”, but the way their eyes went wide and shined and how they tried not to smile but they just couldn’t stop themselves—Race didn’t know what to call what it felt to see something like that, but he knew he felt amazing to be the cause of it.</p><p>His brain was running exhaustingly fast for a fourteen-year-old—Albert hugged him the next moment and Race stopped thinking to just hug back.</p><p>Jojo was smiling at them when they walked back into the kitchen. Race knew that look too well, so he walked up to her and glared until her wishes to say everything she couldn’t say died down.</p><p>When Medda gave Race a nod, he grabbed the hands of his best friends and walked them upstairs. Albert was hardly oblivious enough to know that something was up, but the look on their face when they opened the door to Race’s room and Blink, Specs and Charlie jumped to scream “<em>Surprise!</em>” was priceless regardless.</p><p>Albert, ever the well-spoken, stepped back and breathed, “What the fuck.”</p><p>Charlie and Race laughed at the same time. Blink and Specs walked up to Albert and hugged them with happy birthday wishes left and right, and after that followed Charlie and Jojo just because she felt like she deserved another hug. Maybe, if anything, just for not ruining the surprise. It was an accomplishment on her part.</p><p>In the sea of greetings and the music Blink had chosen—American Idiot, the musical—Albert found Race and put a hand on his shoulder. They were slightly taller, enough to look down at him, and the hand held him tightly.</p><p>“You did this,” they said. Their face showed an amusing confusion.</p><p>“You’re so smart,” Race smiled mockingly. Albert didn’t laugh.</p><p>“Stupid,” they deadpanned. “Why? This is—so much.”</p><p>Something ached inside of Race’s chest. He faltered. “You don’t like it?”</p><p>“What?” Albert frowned, looking at Race’s face intently. “No, Race, this is—God, you’re dense.”</p><p>Race pouted.</p><p>“I love it,” they said. At that, Race’s face lit up with a smile. Albert smiled, too.</p><p>Medda also pulled Albert in for a hug—she’d seen them so much since the age of eight that they might as well be one of hers—, and then she left the group be in Race’s room with the promise of cake after dinner.</p><p>Charlie was getting Mario Kart ready by the TV and excitedly chatting with Specs about the Harry Potter marathon they’d be having later that night. Blink was taking pictures, which Race was sure was the biggest gesture of love they had ever gotten from her part as a group. Jojo was spreading the snacks over the small coffee table.</p><p>Albert was swaying to the music quietly. For a moment, Race thought they probably didn’t realize they were doing it, but when he went to stand next to them and Albert smiled knowingly, it was only a matter of time before both were dancing like their bodies were being possessed by the devil.</p><p>To themselves, both wondered if that counted as dancing together.</p><p>It wasn’t until a few rounds into Mario Kart that Albert said it. It amazed Race, how they remembered—how they knew. Albert knew what was important to Race even years later, even if it was trivial or mundane.</p><p>They must have had some sort of special secret superpower, because they turned to Race with an all-knowing grin and said,</p><p>“The thing about your house,” a beat. “It kind of smells like home, you know?”</p><p>Race looked at them as everything went still around him. Albert smiled and shrugged, like it was nothing, but they knew they had said something that went straight into the box on Race’s head of things he’d continue to repeat over and over for years on end.</p><p>The words floated over them both as Albert resumed the game and laughed triumphantly when they got ahead of Race, who wasn’t even paying attention to the screen anymore.</p><p>The second thing Race learned on Albert’s fifteenth birthday was that Albert made him a different kind of happy.</p><p>The third thing was that sometimes, different was good.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>well! they're so important to me</p><p>as always, on twitter as @newsieslive. please, leave a comment,  if you want! that makes me reaaaaally happy</p><p>drink water and stay home !!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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